Washington, June 11. 4 bly tour of the King and Queen in Canada (with a brief side-trip to the United States) has had a remarkable effect upon American opinion.
Even if the tour had been confined entirely to Canada, the effect in the United States would have been little different: It was not the crowded receptions in Washington and New York which captivated the opinion of the American public. It had already been completely enthralled by the news of the PRP CE. was a petsoua! one for the King and Queen. Some credit must go to the intelligent way in which the tour was handled by the Canadian officials, but that would have been of mo avail had not the King and Queen shown such a sure instinct in doing the right thing and saying the right word.
Tt was that which gave life and character to the Royal progress, followed as avidly in the United States and in England, and turned a diffident American public into an enthusiastic and deeply appreciative one.
Now that the success of the Royal tour has become a matter of history some of the qualms and anxieties felt about it in relation to American opinion may seem exaggerated, but they were none the less real at the time. Probably few people in England realized the obstacles which were in the way of success; had they done so they would probably never have risked the four days in the United States. The first barrier which the King and Queen had to overcome was the prejudice against the existence of courts and monarchs which is a relic of the old-fashioned history teaching of the last century.
America' was a great country, because it had no king, and its public officials conducted themselves with sex: democratic simplicity, without pomp or outworn ceremonial. The ideas which many Americans held about kings and queens in general seemed to have been taken from Alice in "Wonderland, though several Ameri-cane who should know insist that it would only be necessary to read an average school history textbook. Coupled with this background was the attitude adopted by many who wished to be thought smart, and who fancied that a supercilious tone in talking "about the British Royal family and the British Court gave them an air of sophistication Both the King and Queen proved that they could "take it" throughout a gruelling round of public functions, into which they entered wholeheartedly, with an air of sympathy and understanding which captivated all by its genuineness. But it was not in the public functions, but outside them, that the King and Queen showed the human touch,—or as it would usually be called in the United States, the political sense—which can wring emotion from the stoniest heart.
Their very first appearance to the waiting public was at the ship's rail waving to the crowds like ordinary Mrs. Roosevelt, herself, when asked by a &roup of newspaper women what she felt about the King's and Queen's trip in Canada answered that she felt they had been "perfectly grand." She added that all the people from whom she had heard in Canada had been enthusiastic. "They have made everybody feel that they have been having a good time and that they have really enjoyed meeting people."
This praise from Mrs. Roosevelt was no mere routine gesture of. a hostess wishing to be polite to her guest. To quote a widely-read columnist Mr. Harlan Miller, "The First Lady has leaned over backwards to keep the whole thing casual. She could not have been much more offhand if the guests were merely a couple of Roosevelt cousins. (The Roosevelt cousins, it must be remembered to grasp the force of this remark, belong to the Republican camp). This casualness has at moments given her attitude an illusion of flippancy."
Mr. Miller was referring to the jokes which Mrs. Roosevelt passed on to some of her more talkative cronies about the stiffness and formality of Court life. Some of her statements created amazement until it was discovered that she had been sent (some said by Ambassador Bullitt) the detailed instructions compiled by the French protocol officials for the preparation of the Royal suit at the Palais d'Orsay.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.